Dental clasp



April '27, 1948. G. M. HOLDEN 2,440,443

DENTAL CLASP Filed NOV. 29; 1946 Patented Apr. 27, 1948 UNITED STATESPATENT QFFICE DENTAL CLASP Gary M. Holden, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Application November 29, 1946, Serial No. 712,809

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to dental clasps or rests for maintainingteeth in fixed position in a partial denture.

It is desirable to manufacture dentures which simulate as much aspossible natural tooth and gum formation so that the use of suchdenture, as such, is not appreciably noticeable or conspicuous and sothat the user may not be made self-conscious. Difficulties arise,however, where one or more of the teeth are held in the denture with theaid of a clasp or rest inasmuch as they are of metal and their presenceproduces a decided contrast with the teeth which they engage.

It is, therefore, an object of the present in vention to provide animproved denture structure having clasps or rests associated therewithof such a nature that they contrast well with the teeth they engage.

Another object of the present invention is to provide improved dentalclasps or rests having a material affixed thereto of the same color asthe color of natural human teeth, the material and its affixation to themetal portion of the clasps or rests, as the case may be, being of suchnature that they may be used permanently without loss or chipping of thematerial.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. This inventionitself, both as to its organization and manner of operation, togetherwith further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood byreference to the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a denture having a clasp mountedthereon incorporating the present invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 ofFigure 3.

Figure 3 is a view in elevation of a portion of a denture or partialdenture having a rest mounted thereon incorporating the presentinvention.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 4-4 of Figure3, and

Figure 5 shows a section through a rest or clasp incorporating thepresent invention with the porcelain covering material removedtherefrom.

In Figure 1, the denture In has two teeth ll, l2 fastened thereon bymeans of the metal clasp Hi, the outside surface of which is coveredwith a material I 4 having a color that contrasts well with the color ofthe teeth I I, I2. This material l4 has preferably a milky white colorand is preferably porcelain. This clasp l3 may take well recognizedforms and shapes and may engage the teeth II and I 2 in conventionalmanner thereby to maintain them rigidly on the 2 acrylic material i5within which one end of the clasp is anchored or buried.

Figures 2 and 3 show an arrangement like that one described inconnection with Figure 1 but in this case, the tooth fastening member l3does not extend the full width of the tooth l1 and is thus, inaccordance with well established nomenclature termed, not a clasp, but arest. This abbreviated clasp or rest E3 in Figure 3 may be fastened tothe tooth il in conventional manner to thereby hold in firmly on theacrylic material it within which one end of the rest I3 is firmlyembedded or anchored.

An important feature of the present invention resides in aiiixing thecoating material M on the member 53. This material covers substantiallythe entire outer surface of the metal member l3 which would otherwise beexposed to vision. This outer surface is made reentrant by formingdovetail type of grooves 20 therein which extend along the longitudinallength of the member l3 and at least along that length which wouldotherwise be exposed to vision.

These dovetail type of grooves 29 maintain the porcelain material i lfirmly in position both during the time the porcelain material appliedthereto is allowed to harden and after the material hardens.

While the particular embodiments of the present invention have beenshown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatchanges and modifications may be made without departing from thisinvention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the aim in the appendedclaims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within thetrue spirit and scope of this'invention.

I claim:

1. A dental clasp of metal, and a thin layer of porcelain materialaffixed to said metal and extending along the length of clasp whichwould otherwise be exposed to vision, when inuse.

2. A dental rest of metal having a reentrant outer surface, and materialhaving substantially the color of natural human teeth maintained inposition on said metal by said reentrant surface.

3. A dental clasp of metal having a reentrant outer surface, andmaterial having substantially the color of natural human teethmaintained in position on said metal by said reentrant surface.

GARY M. HOLDEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,426,935 Wiechert Aug. 22, 1922

